Kitchen Makeovers: Before and After

Granite countertops have moved from dream-house luxury to a standard kitchen material within the past decade or two.  The only question for many homeowners now is what color granite to buy for the new kitchen’s countertops. Do they want dark and shiny, warm and earthy, light and creamy, or bright and gaudy. Homeowners can find something in almost any color of granite for medium to high-budget remodels.

The available colors of granite range from the near-black of “Absolute Black” through the bright blue and rust abstract swirls of the aptly named “Van Gogh” to almost pure white. Mass-market retailers usually carry a small range of colors of granite in the most popular and affordable colors. If you want something different, you need to find a stone yard. To see the full range available, search online and check several stone merchants. Geology being what it is, there is far more gray and cream granite than brilliantly colored granite. Be warned; some of the rare granite colors, especially the blue shades, are expensive. If you fall in love with a budget-busting granite, consider using it for a very small, but prominent countertop and use an inexpensive coordinating color of granite for the remaining countertops.

After picking a color range, the next question is what texture and particle size you want to use. Granite textures can be an almost uniform monochrome, salt and pepper speckled like the classic Rosa Beta, veined like marble, or wildly mottled like Harlequin. The grain can be small and almost uniform, can contain large crystalline inclusions like Snowflake, or can even look like it has whole pebbles embedded in it like the Marinacce and Mosaic granites.

Maintaining your countertop surface is always an issue. The mottled neutral colors of some granite countertops, such as those made from Santa Cecilia granite, disguise the water spots and small stains that make maintaining dark granites a daily task. A high-gloss Absolute Black, on the other hand, will show every particle of dust that lands on it. The pale cream and white granites may need sealing to avoid staining when colored foods are spilled on them.

Granite has a color and pattern for the countertops of any style home, and a price for almost any budget. If your home is traditional, use the classic speckled gray and beige granite colors, or the classic blacks, whites, and creams with slight veining. Contemporary kitchens look good with countertops in the more lively stones such as Baltic Brown, the mottled Juperanas, Santa Cecilia, or even the pebble-filled Marinacce granites. If your decor is ultra modern, the pure simplicity of the pure black marbles such as Absolute Black might appeal to you. Or go ultra-edgy with the wild Van Gogh and other gaudy granite colors if your budget can handle the price.

Where do they get the names for granite? Some are named for the towns the quarry is near, some are named for the appearance of the granite, and some are named by the quarry’s marketing staff to make an ordinary granite sound special. “Snowflake Black” not only sounds better than “New Hampshire Plutonic Suite granite”, it’s easier to imagine what it looks like.